DIY Pillow Box - Step by Step Tutorial using Cricut Explore

For this project, I created this pillow box to hold a bracelet that I was giving as a gift. In this post I will go through how to make the actual box. I will then make a separate post on how to create the design and bow.

For the pillow box alone, you will just need standard cardstock in the color you would like. Along with you Cricut machine and Scoring Stylus.

Pillow Box Template:

I found this FREE SVG File/Template by Bird's Cards. You can upload it straight to your Cricut Design Space. It even turns the dashed lines into a separate cut layer. You can easily change that layer to a 'score' line under attributes. Make sure to attached the two layers as well, otherwise they will be seen as two different elements and the score lines will not match the cut lines.

To Cut the Pillow Box:

• First you need to upload your SVG Template (link above).
• Go to the Cricut Design Space (I am currently using the updated version)
• Start a new project and Save as (You don't want to lose all your work)
• On the left hand side, choose the 'Upload' tab (bottom most tab on the left)
• Choose 'Upload Image'

• Drag your template from where ever you saved it (usually it would end up in the Downloads Folder. 
• Click Upload.
• It should look like the image below. You can now name and tag your image. I usually upload so many things, that I forget to do that. It is helpful later on though. This one I named 'Pillow Box'
• Click Save.

• Next you will want to prepare your file to cut and score at the same time. To do this-

• Click the image - The title (in my case, "Pillow Box") or the title line of the layers on the right hand side of the screen. All three of the lines should be a grey color (shown below).
• You will see that there are 2 layers- both having a symbol that looks like scissors. This means that they currently are both seen as 'cut' files. You will need to change this.

• To change a 'cut' file to a 'score' file, click the individual line (shown below). 
• Layer attributes will pop up to the left of the layers bar. You can see that the bar under 'Cut' is in bold.

• This is where you can change what is going on with each layer:
• Cut: will cut your layer where ever there are lines on that layer.
• Write: will draw with a marker (that you add) where ever the lines are for that layer.
• Score: will draw 'score lines' (little dashes on your layer that just indent your surface) which is basically a fold line. This are actually amazing. 
• Print: will print the selected layer. I have never used the function successfully. The old version of Design Space wasn't really good for this. 
• You are going to want to chose 'score'- Once it is selected, it should look like the image below.

• Now that you have done a few things in the Design Space, you probably have realized that when you move the image, the 'score' lines (dashes) stay in place with the 'cut' lines (solid lines). This is because they was auto put into a 'group'. You can recognize this when you click the title line of "Pillow Box" and all three of the lines are grey. Right above the lines for the layers, you can see 4 buttons: 'Group', 'Ungroup', 'Duplicate', and 'Delete'. As pictured below, the option to 'group' is not available. However, 'ungroup' is a usable option- leading to the conclusion that they must be grouped, if you can 'ungroup' them. 
• You will also want to 'Attach' them.

• What is a 'Group' on Cricut Design Space?
• When you use this function, you can select multiple layers and select the option 'Group'. 
• What this does is essential tells the design space, that you want these layers to stay together, for design purposes. 
• You can move them around and resize them as you want all together. 
• This is an awesome feature if you want to make something like this where you would want everything to stay the same ratio to the other layers.
• *However, this is just for design purposes! When you go to make your project, they will be cut in separate layers. So you will have 2 separate sheets, one with the cut project layer and the other with the score layer. 
• **Now you may think, okay, I will just put the same paper through after it is cut and it will just score over it. Wrong! The Design Space is designed to conserve as much of your paper as possible, so it will move the layers accordingly. This is is problematic because the two layers are not the same, so they will not be scored and cut in the correct places. 
• To cut and score them all together, you will need to use the 'Attach' function (which we will use with this project).
• What is the 'Attach' function on Cricut Design Space?
• Attach is very similar to the Group function (as discussed above). 
• The main different is that it tells the design space that these need to be made as they are shown on the space. 
• This is useful from many reasons:
• For this current project, it tells the software that you want to cut this image on the cut lines exactly as shown. Then it will score the project in the exact places that the score lines are.
• If you wanted a specific design with multiple layers and you want it exactly in a certain spot, you can 'attach' the layers and they will be cut exactly as you set them up. 
• With previous versions of the Design Space, I would use this function to arrange the layers to fit on one sheet. My issue was that I had oddly shaped layers- I could fit 2 cuts on one sheet, if I positioned them angled. The old Design Space wouldn't allow you to rearrange how the file would be cut. So the work around was to use this 'Attach' function. However, the new version actually allows you to rotate, move and rearrange how everything is situated on your mat. It is pretty awesome!

• Okay- Back to the project on hand. To 'attach' layers, it is pretty simple. On the bottom of the Layers bar, you will see 5 options:
• Slice: when you have 2 layers highlighted, this function will slice the two, into 3 separate pieces.
• Weld: will join the layers into a single layer.
• Attach (becomes 'Detach' when the layer is already 'attached'): See explanation above.
• Flatten: will flatten all the layers into one flat, printable layer.
• Contour: This is an interesting feature. It hides parts of an individual layer. The hidden parts or elements are just not seen when the project is made.
• For this project, you will want to select 'Attach'. Your space should look like the picture below. You should see your layers listed in an 'Attach' drop down. At the bottom of the Layers bar, you should see the middle button highlighted reading 'Deattach'. 

To Cut Your Box:

• BEFORE proceeding, change your material on your actual Cricut dial is set properly. If you are using the Metallic Poster Board, set it to 'Custom'. If you are using card-stock, as I suggest, set the dial to the middle option with 'Cardstock'
• Click the 'Make It' green button on the top right section of the design space. 
• You should be brought to a page like the one pictured below. 
• Because we only have one sheet, you will only see one mat on the right side bar. If you had more than one, they will be shown on the left hand side and you could change each of them. For this project, you only have one- so it should look like the picture below.
• One thing to make sure of, on the left hand side bar, you should see 'Score' & 'Cut' next to your mat. 
• If you do not see both 'Score' & 'Cut', then you have not set up the mats properly. You should go back to the 'Attach' section of this post.
• In this section, you can do a couple of different things:
• Choose how many copies of the project you would like.Choose your Material Size - so if you aren't using 12x12 paper, this is where you can change it.
• You can also choose if you want it to print a mirror of the project. 

• For this project, the defaults are okay- so I wouldn't change anything on this page.
• Click 'Continue'

• *** This is important*** On the next screen- There will be several things you need to look at:
• First - 'Connect Machine' at the top of the lighter colored section. Make sure it is connected to your Cricut device. If you can't get the Bluetooth connected, plugging your Cricut in via USB cable should work.
• Second- because we only have one sheet, you will only see one mat on the right side bar. If you had more than one, they will be shown on the left hand side and you could change each of them. For this project, you only have one- so it should look like the picture below.
• #1- your material needs to be set. 
• For this example, I used normal card-stock paper.
• You need to pay attention to the Material Section- it will auto choose what you set on your dial. If you set the wrong thing, you need to fix it, otherwise the cut will be too deep and will damage your mat, or it will be too shallow and your project will not fully cut through the paper.
• You can leave the Pressure at 'Default'
• #2 - Load tools and mat
• In this section, it will walk you through the tools you will need.
• For this project, you will need to load the 'Scoring Stylus' into Clamp A.
• Your standard blade should be fine to keep in Clamp B.
• Before you 'Load mat and Press Load/Unload Button':
• You will want to put your material on your mat.
• If you are using any other sheet besides the 12x12, make sure the position of the sheet matches the one show in the left hand column.
• You can now arrange the placement of the items on the mat itself. 
• To do this, click the 'Edit' button in the left hand side bar, near the info for that mat.
• Now you are ready to cut. 
• Insert the mat into the machine, pressing the 'Load/Unload Button' and wait for the 'Cricut' button to blink green. 
• If you are using Bluetooth, it may take more time than if you were using the USB cord

Once cut, you can fold along the scored (dashed) lines and glue together from the inside.